Some of my interviews are in English. Some are in Spanish. Very few are in only one of these languages. I work with Panamanians of West Indian descent, many of who speak/know English. Even a majority Spanish language interview will have a few English words here and there. I am in Panama. Even people who speak English throw in a Spanish word here and there. When, where, why, and how people change languages is important to me. This is what we call "code-switching"
Here is an example: The chombos and then the costeños which is the afro colonials they will call us chumecos they can’t say Jamaican they say chumecos y para mi me dicen chomba. No lo tomo como una ofensa sino lo que me hace es reforzar eso es decir me identifico ya saben que soy orgullosamente panameña pero de descendencia afro antillana.
Right in the middle of the sentence, the language changes. The whole interview is this way. Interesting, yes. difficult to transcribe? yes lol
food is a common switch like this woman:
los domigos eran rice and peas and coconut (laughing) y habían chicken and chops. ¿qué macaroni?! como que. Y eso para mí fue un choque allí.
Soooo if people are doing my transcriptions, I need to make sure they have a familiarity with both languages, even if one is predominant. As I am looking at transcription services, I have to assess which recordings are in one language only.
and that is where I am.
*if anyone is looking for PT work and wants to transcribe, just let me know! lol *
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